Steam-trap.



No. 679,826. Patented Aug. 6, \90|.

' C. T. BROWN & F. W. LEUTHESSEB.

STEAM TRAP.

(Applicazion'mea my 1o, 1901.. Jin Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

No. 679,826. Patented Aug. 6, 190|. C. T. BROWN & F. W. LEUTHESSEB.

- STEAM TRAP.

:Application med may 1o, 190i.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

hal

nu M.. .M W d. M

UNITED STATES PATENT O EinicE.-

CHARLES T. BROWN AND FRED W. LEUTHESSER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO MONASH-YOUNKER CO., OF SAME PLACE.

STEAM-TRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 679,826, dated August 6, 1901.

n Application filed May 10, 1901. Serial No. 59,587. (No model.)

make, and use the same.

The object of this invention 1s to obtain a steam-trap which shall be efficient in operation, sightly in appearance, economical in material and in construction, not liable to leakage at the joining of the parts forming the casing or shell, easily adjusted, and not liable to get out of adjustment in use, the working parts readily exposed to view when the trap is connected up without disturbing the pipe connections thereof, and easily put into operative position and connected up to the steam-pipes of the system to which it is attached.

In the drawings referred to as forming a part 'of this specification, Figure lis a perspective view of a steam-trap embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View; and Fig. 4 is a top plan View ofthe bottom half of the shell or casing with the operative parts of the steam-trap connected up ready for use, the top half of such shell or casing having been removed to expose such operative parts to View.

A reference-letter applied to designate a given part is used to indicate such part throughout the several figures of the drawings wherever the same appears.

' A is the bottom part of the shell creasing of the steam-trap embodying our invention and is bowl-shaped, having a cylindrical body and rounded ends B B.

4A is the top part of the shell or casing and is similar in shape to part A thereof.

B B are the rounded ends of the part A of the shell or casing.

C is an oval peripheral flange extending entirely around part A of the shell or casing,

at the upper edge thereof, and forms the meeting face to ange C on part A', such flange C' also being oval and extending entirely around the part A'.

D D are bolts provided with nuts d d d, respectively, such bolts securing the parts A A irmly together, and d' is packing interposed between iianges C C of parts A A.

E is a projecting lug or body at one end of part A of the-shell or casing, and F is a screwthreaded aperture extending through such projecting lug into the interior of the sliell or casing, forming the inlet of the steam-trap,

\into which aperture a steam-pipe connection having corresponding screw-threads is connected from the steam-pipe system designed to berelieved of water of condensation by the steam-trap.

G is a projecting lug or body at the opposite end `of the part A of the shell or casing, and H is a screw-threaded aperture therein forming the outlet of the steam-trap, into which aperture waste pipe with correspending screw-threads is to be fitted when the apparatus is connected up for operation in the ordinary way of making the waste-pipe connection.

I is a Valve seating to close by-pass I. (See Fig. 3.)

I2 is a .well forming a passage-way connecting at its lower end with the passage-way I3. Passage-way Is and well I2 constitute the bypass I', connecting at one end thereof with the interior of the shell o r casing of the steamtrap and at the other end thereof with the outlet I-I and provided with the valve I to close such by-pass when such valve is seated.

' I4 is an ordinary stuffing-box on the stem of valve I. Y

J is a hand-wheel on the valve I.

K is a return-bend attached at one end thereof to the part A of the shell or casing and communicating with the outlet H thereof, (see Fig. 3,) and L is a valve-seat adjustably attached, as by the screw-threads ZZ, to the end of the return-bend K over the open float N, hereinafter described.

M M M' are posts, preferably made integral with the part A of the shell or casing of the steam-strap and serving as the supports of the open iioat N, such open float being provided with the lugs 'n n, through which lugs and through which supports M M the rod O is eX- tended, so that the open oat N is fulcrumed thereon in a manner permitting upward and downward movement thereof in the/shell or casing. Float N is of less weight than the water displaced thereby when no water is contained in the iioat, and when water of condensation is contained in the float N such float, together with such water of condens tion, is of greater weight than the water/srrounding the iioat displaced thereby, and A therefore when no water, or but little, is in the float the same is raisedby the water sur; rounding it, and when such oat is Iilled,-or nearly so, with water of condensation4 the float falls or sinks into the water surrounding it.

Pis avalve-stem loosely attached at its lower end to the float N and provided at its upper end with the valve R, arranged to seat on the valve-seatL to close the same. We prefer/to/ attach the valve-stem P to fioat N by pivt Q.

S is a tube or nipple attached at it-s upper end to the cap z', and such cap z' is attached to the valve-seat L by screw-threads correspondingwith the screw-threads Z Z. Tube or nipple S extends at the lower end thereof to near the bottom of iloat N, so that when such float N is depressed (with water of condensation therein) and valve R thereby unseated the water of condensation contained in such open ioat N will all, or nearly all, be forced from the steam-trap through such tube or nipple, the valve-seat, return-bend, and outlet The lug or body G at one end ofirt A of the shell or casing of the stear/nltrap may be cut away, so as to be limited in size, as is in l dicated by the broken lines g g of Fig. lof the drawings, and iii/practice we `-usuallyfdo construct the apparatus with such/lug or body G so cut away, making it of Vthe shape i and Aappearance illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, although we have constructed them with the lug or body of the shape Aand size illustrated by .the full lines in Fig. l of the drawings. j

The operation of the steam-trap embody ing our invention is as follows: Steam and water olf/condensation entering the shell or casing/of the trap from the pipes to which it is attached through the inlet F the ioat Nis raised, and valve R is seated to close valve- Aseat L. The contents of the steam-trap arev Y /held in the shell or casing by'such closing `of such valve on its seat.

When suicient water ofcondensation flowsinto the shell of the steam-trap to rise therein above -the upper edges of float N `and fill or nearly ill-such oat, it will descend in the water surrounding it, and the valveR is unseated from seat L and the water of condensation contained in the iioat is forced from the shell .or casing through the tubefr or nipple S, valve-seat L, l return-bend K, and outlet H. Nearly all the tft forced from thesten trap provided nthe weight of water displaced by theV empty float N is of nearly the same weight as is such empty float, and the shell or case of the steamtrap is made of two parts, each bowl-shaped and joined together at the largest part or top of such bowls, as hereinbeforeV described, as when suiicient water of condensation has flowed over the top of the float N to cause Vsuch iioat to commence to descend it will continue to descend, as the water surrounding such ioat will flow thereinto as fast as water is discharged therefrom until the float has eached its lowest position and thereafter until the fioat is nearly empty. As the oat descends it more nearly reaches fromV side to side of the interior of the steam-trap, and but little water will be left in the shell or case outside of the float at the time the float rises into position to close the valve R on its seat. After the floathas been emptied of the water of condensation contained therein, as last abov/edcribed, it will rise to its initial positionfclosing the valve on its seat, and thereafter the operation will be repeated at intervals as often as the accumulation of water of condensation collected in the steamtrap is suicient to How over the upper edges of the float N, as described.

When it is desired to empty the shell or case of the steam-trap of the contents,whether water of condensation or steam, the same can be done byopenin g the valve I, thereby opening the by-pass I.

It will be observed that by constructingthe shell or case A A in the manner described, with the longitudinally-extending flanges C C at the meeting edges of the bowl-shaped parts of the shell, the holes d2 d2, through which the bolts D D extend, may be cast and at a uniform distance from each other, notwithstanding the lugs or bodies E and G, and that the inlet F, outlet H, and by-pass I' may also be readily cast by the use of a core-pri-nt in the ordi-nary way, and but little labor is required to finish and assemble the several working parts, and, furthermore, that by placing-such flanges C C as shown room is obtained to place the nuts upon an ordinary bolt D, placed in such holes d2 d2. By putting packing material between the flanges C C a water-tight joint is easily obtained.

By making the part A of the shell or casing bowl-shaped, as shown, with the fiange C -at the upper edge thereof, and adopting a like construction in part A` of such shell or casing we are able to remove the nuts from the v'bol-ts at all times and remove the top part A of the shell without raising part A or moving -it from its given position, and when the top part of the shell is removed the working parts of the steam-trap are exposed to view in a manner 4in which they can be inspected and adjusted.

The upper end of the well l2 is preferably Lplaced to discharge into the outlet H to one water of condensation in the float N will be `side of the discharge into such outlet of the IOO IIO

return-bend K, so that when the by-pass is used water flowing upward through well I2 and passing out of the outlet H will not flow directly into such return-bend K, as it may occur that (as for purposes of cleaning out the shell or case of the steam-trap) it is desired to blow steam from the shell or casing through the by-pass, in which case there being no water of condensation in such shell or case, or but little thereof, the float N will be in its depressed position, with the valve R od of its seat, and hence j an opening through the tube or nipple S, valve-seat L, and the return-bend K to the outlet H, and we do not wish in such case to have the steam so iiowing into the outlet H from the well l2 and return-bend K to be directed against each other; and it is to obtain the above-recited relative position of the discharge end of the return-bend K and the discharge end of the passage-way I;a of the by-pass I into the outlet H that the post M is cast integral with the end wall of part A of the shell or casing of the steam-trap, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings. The posts M M are preferably cast integral with post M', but extending above such post M', as illustrated in the drawings. Pivots O O may extend entirely across from one of the posts M M to the other thereof,as is indicated by the broken lines lettered O O in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-- l. In a steam-trap the combination of a shell or casing cylindrical in vertical section and provided with circular ends, and consisting of two parts respectively provided with peripheral flanges extending horizontally around the meeting edges thereof, the ends of the lower one of such parts provided with projecting bodies adjacent to the flange thereof, with the inlet and the outlet of the steamtrap extending through such bodies, respectively, and the outlet end of such lower part also provided with a horizontal aperture and a vertical passage-way communicating with such horizontal aperture and with the outlet, a valve in the horizontal aperture arranged to seat to close communication from the interior of the shell to the outlet, a return-bend in the shell, a valve-seat attached to one end of the return-bend, the other end of the return-bend attached to the shell and communicatingwith the outlet, an open fioat pivotally attached at one of its ends to the shell, a valve-stem loosely attached at its lower end to the bottom of the float, and at its upper end passing through the valve-seat, a valve at the upper end o f the valve-stem and a tube extending from the valve-seat to near the bottom of the iioat substantially as described.

2. In a steam-trap, a shell comprising a lower and an upper part, forming, respectending peripheral flange at the meeting edges the inlet-end wall with passage-ways cominunicating with the outlet and with the interior of the shell,constituting a by-pass and a valve to close such by-pass, in combination with a return-bend attached at one end thereof to the lower part of the shell and communicating with the outlet, a valve-seat at the other end of the return-bend adjustably attached thereto, a float open at its upper end and pivotally attached at one end thereof to the lower part of the shell, a tube from the adj ustable valve-seat to near the bottom of the float, a valve-stem loosely attached to the iioat and avalve on the stem arranged to seat to close the valve-seat when the float is raised; substantially as described.

3. In a steam-trap, a shell comprising a lower and an upper part respectively forming a bowl and an inverted bowl, both of such parts provided with a horizontally-extending peripheral fiange at the meeting edges thereof, projecting bodies on the ends of the lower part adjacent to the flange a vertical post within the lower part adjacent to one end thereof and integral therewith, such lower part providedwith aninlet through the projecting body at one end thereof and provided with an outlet through the projecting body and post at the other end thereof and provided with a by-pass communicating with the interior of the shell near the bottom thereof and with the outlet substantially midway thereof, a valve to the by-pass a return-bend attached to the post and communicating with the outlet near the inner end thereof, an open fioat, lugs on one end of the open float, a pivotal connection between such lugs and the post, a valve-seat attached to the inner end of the return-bend, such valveseat provided with a passage-way extending to near the bottom of the open iioat, a valvestexn attached to the bottom of the open iioat and extending through the valve-seat and a valve on such stem seating to close such valveseat; substantially as described.

4. In a steam-trap, a shell comprising a lower and an upper part respectively forming a bowl and an inverted bowl, both of such parts provided with a horizontally-cxtending peripheral iiange at the meeting edges thereof, projecting bodies on the ends of the lower part adjacent to the flange, a vertical post within the lower part adjacent to one end thereof and integral therewith, such lower part provided with an inlet through the projecting body at one end thereof and provided with an outlet through the projecting body and post at the other end thereof and provided with a by-pass communicating with the interior of the shell near the bottomthereof and with the outlet substantially midway thereof, a valve to the by-pass, a return-bend attached to theV post and commu- IOO nicating with the outlet near the inner end thereof, avalve at the inner end of such return-bend and means to automatically open such Valve to discharge water of condensation from the steam-trap to the return-bend and outlet thereof and to automatically close such Valve after the discharge of such Water of condensation substantially as described.

Signed atvChicago, Cook county, Illinois, this 8th day of May, A. D. 1901.

CHARLES T.- BROWN. FRED W. LEUTHESSER.

In presence ofv THOMAS H. SMITH, K. GILLIGAN. 

